Horrified mums discover daughters were switched at birth in hospital 38 years ago – World News
Two mums who discovered that their daughters were accidentally switched at birth in hospital 38 years ago are demanding compensation.
Vasilya Baimurzina and Valentina Baulina are both calling for a payout of 10million rubles (£96,589) from the Ministry of Finance of Russia after a DNA test revealed the blunder.
They each gave birth to their daughters on a maternity ward at Kizil hospital in the rural locality of Kizilskoye in 1983.
But the girls grew up looking nothing the women raising them, with dark-haired Vasilya raising fair-hared Gulsina, and fair-haired Valentina raising dark-haired Alyona.
Long suspecting their daughters might not be their own, the two recently agreed to carry out a DNA test, the results of which showed their children had been switched at birth.
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(Image: Newsflash)
The current hospital manager issued an official apology to the women ahead of their first court hearing on April 27 adding that the members of staff involved at the time were no longer alive.
Hospital boss Alla Vasilyeva also said she was not sure how the babies’ name tags could have come off and been reattached incorrectly.
Local media note that the typical compensation awarded in cases such as these is one to 1.5 million Russian rubles (£9,660 to £14,490) per head.
Babies being switched at birth is a common plot twist in movies and books but a vanishingly rare occurrence in reality, with only 17 known cases throughout history.
(Image: Newsflash)
(Image: Newsflash)
A similar mix-up in Russia led to the discovery in 2015 that two 12-year-old girls from the Ural Mountains had been handed to the wrong parents at birth.
The blunder only came to light when the ex-husband of one of the girls’ mums refused to pay child support on the basis that she looked nothing like him.
DNA tests proved that the child was neither’s biological daughter, but both children eventually decided to stay with their adoptive families.
Alyona, Vasilya’s biological daughter, is now an entrepreneur while Gulsina , Valetnina’s biological daughter, works as a school janitor.
The lawsuit is ongoing.
